the Caffrey box
by Kuro49
Summary: Post-anklet. OT3. Neal finds it, high above the dresser in the Burke's bedroom.


Spoilers for the last portion of S4E13 in which Peter brings down a box and Jones labels it as the Caffrey Box. I just have a lot of feelings over Peter and his box, okay, I hope it makes another appearance.

XXX

**the Caffrey box**

XXX

He's been in their bedroom before, but not like this.

Not with their open-armed permission anyway. Not with a mantra of yeses already falling halfway to his lips from theirs. It's a thing of beauty to have them wanting him to be here in the first place. And well, if they change their mind in the morning, wants their bed minus an ex-convict, sans anklet, at least he would have the night before.

Neal falls asleep with four hands on him and wakes up to two.

He cracks open an eye to the sunlight filtering through and there, right there, is a box he has been too consumed to notice last night. (When priorities have been skewed to clothes off now and more talking later.)

"No way," Neal breathes out and begins his extraction from Elizabeth's arms.

000

He's been through Peter's head enough times to know that, perhaps, this is exactly what he should be expecting since day one. But day one has been years and years ago, and no one really stays the same. Or so he presumes.

For all the times Neal has been unpredictable, he knows that Peter has always been too predictable, enough so that it still surprises him, every time.

"Do you not understand how weird this is?"

Elizabeth sits up just as he puts the box on the edge of the foot of the bed, and she barely stifles a yawn. "Neal, honey, why are you surprised?"

Despite the little flutter his heart does at the pet name she uses, Neal turns to stare at Elizabeth, and it's like he puts one and one together, obvious disbelief clear in his eyes. "Oh god, that's how he does it."

"What?"

"Peter had something similar with you."

El doesn't say anything.

"Elizabeth, tell me I'm not alone in this."

"Well, in his defence," she explains with a small shrug, on her way to the bathroom, "mine was more like a shoebox."

000

Peter comes up the stairs to find Neal sitting naked and cross-legged on their bed, with all the contents of the box surrounding him. El is wrapped in her bathrobe, smiling in amusement, eyes glinting when he comes up behind her smelling like fresh-flipped pancakes.

"Hey hon."

"He's in disbelief, you know." She leans into him and twists back to give him a kiss at the corner of his mouth. He returns the gesture and turns his gaze back to his ex-CI, still sitting in his birthday suit in their bed.

"Why is he even surprised?"

She laughs softly and says, "that's what I asked him too."

000

"You knew about this?" Neal asks from the bed, his hand lifting a trashy airport novel from the pile, eyes still on the other contents from the box.

"'05 O'Hare, lost you in the crowd, found that on the chair by the empty suitcase you left behind." Peter replies from the door and watches the motion of Neal's hand as he lowers the book back to the bed. He gives a shrug he doesn't know if Neal sees and says, "knew about it, never understood it."

And hasn't that always been the case of one James Bonds.

It is with a slow spread of his lips when Neal looks up, grin sly. "It wasn't entirely empty."

"How could I forget? You left cookies."

Peter barely resists the urge to roll his eyes as Neal laughs, his hand going to thumb at the worn airport novel. El shakes her head, smile all too obvious when she extracts herself from Peter's loose hold to check on Satchmo and the breakfast downstairs.

Peter watches Neal's eyes going after her, all the way until she is gone. He catches his gaze, and it's like he needs his validation all over again (like last night wasn't enough).

Neal prompts, "you chased me for three years, Peter."

"Caught you in the fourth."

"Got me a four year sentence too." And it makes Peter breathe a little easier every time Neal doesn't sound resentful with this admittance. "You escaped with three months to go."

"Then you caught me again."

"You were sloppy."

When Neal answers, he sounds breathless and in awed. "I was."

000

"It was just supposed to be four years, you know."

"It could have been shorter, my commutation hearing was right there."

"…Kramer. Neal, you know tha—"

"I know, Peter."

And it is like the U-boat all over again, with the lines of TNT right beneath their feet, the adrenaline still spiking high enough to be the source of all the blame. But now that there is no imminent danger, it feels just as right, just as clear to shake free of the excuses they have always tried to hide behind.

"You were never supposed to find me, you know."

"Well, I couldn't let you live the good island life while I get another ten years of bad Bureau coffee."

The smile doesn't turn slippery, there is no misdirection at work, and the warmth doesn't fade. Neal sees it for what it has always been, and says.

"You missed me."

"…I did."

Peter smiles at him from the doorway with his admission. The sunlight falls bright over him in cascades, and for once he looks like an original Neal finally dares to sign with a flourish. A quiet _mine_. His hands shake a little, like this is a show of his last and final hand.

With the contents of the box in disarray, Neal stumbles to his feet. And Peter, he matches him step for step.

XXX Kuro

I seriously hope my WC timeline is somewhat correct...


End file.
